Cows

WASHINGTON -- The wrestling room at Graham High School in St. Paris, Ohio, where Jim Jordan, now 47, began the athletic career that took him to the University of Wisconsin and two NCAA wrestling championships, contains this sign: "Discipline is doing what you don't want to do when you don't want to do it. " Today, as a third-term congressman from Ohio and chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Jordan leads what looks like an ongoing insurgency to...

Playwright Alan Bennett clearly had an ax to grind with the 1980s British education system. He's against turning history into facts-optional entertainment. And he's not happy about those style-over-substance TV "documentaries. " Luckily, Bennett skillfully used his beefs to write "The History Boys," a highly entertaining look at how young minds are shaped by the adults they encounter at school. "The History Boys" is much warmer and funnier than any lofty description of its themes can express - the hormone-driven world of adolescent boys always good for a laugh.

WHAT : Winter Park's biggest charity event of the weekend has the usual big names and gourmet bites, but the attitude eschews black ties for blue jeans. "Cows n' Cabs" features a western theme and a live soundtrack by country crooners Jill's Cashbox, plus craft beer, wine tastings and cuisine by local chefs John Rivers (4 Rivers Smokehouse), Kevin Fonzo (K Restaurant) and more. Full proceeds this year will benefit the Community Food & Outreach Center and Elevate Orlando. WHEN : 7-10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26 (VIP admission at 6 p.m.)

WHAT: Mad Cow Theatre on Friday, Aug. 8, opens Alan Bennett's The History Boys. Bennett's tale is about unruly British schoolboys who are preparing for coveted places at either Oxford or Cambridge under the tutelage of their somewhat unorthodox history teacher. The unusual approach to their studies is questioned when a new, young history teacher joins the staff with strong views of his own. The play not only explores the anarchy of adolescence but also the true purpose of education.

CALL ME a sentimental and irrepressible environmentalist and animal lover, but I would like to initiate a movement placing cows on Florida's protected species list to join alligators, deer and other now-abundant but protected animals. There are fewer cows in our state than alligators, and they normally produce but one offspring a year while alligators pump them out by the batches.Cows never feed on small animals and children. Certainly baby bossy is far more cuddly than a baby alligator - and safer.

TAVARES -- What do you do with 93 emaciated cows? That's the question facing Lake County Animal Services. Last week, officials seized about 100 severely underweight cows -- plus a dog and a horse -- from a farm on Maggie Jones Road near Paisley. It was the largest livestock seizure Animal Services has undertaken. Now, the cows are being housed on every bit of available land at the county shelter in Tavares -- plus on part of the old landfill next door. "They're all over the place," said Rene Segraves, Animal Services assistant director.

It's not unusual for cows to go missing from Keri Martin's herd. Many of the Angus cattle are pregnant, and they often wander off to deliver their calves and then return. This time, however, five pregnant cows never came home. Martin noticed on Dec. 17 that someone had cut a fence along Blackstill Lake Road and repaired it with yellow tape and a different type of wire, she told Clermont police. She and her husband, Dennis, said they think someone lured the cows out of the pasture, loaded them into a trailer and took off. The gentle animals are worth a minimum of $1,500 apiece, she said.

Lake County deputies continue investigating the case of roughly one dozen cow carcasses spotted in a pasture off State Road 19 in the Dona Vista area, officials said today. The deceased animals — found in various states of decomposition — were spotted at about 9:15 a.m. today while the Lake County Sheriff's Office aviation unit was conducting a routine flight, according to Sgt. Jim Vachon with the Sheriff's Office. "The deceased cows appear to have died from neglect," Vachon said in a statement.

The owner of about one dozen cows found dead in a Lake County pasture Wednesday will not be criminally charged – for now -- in connection with the deceased animals, officials say. "At this point there are no charges being filed at all," said Lake County Sheriff's Office Lt. John Herrell after checking with deputies with the Sheriff's Office agricultural unit. However, the owner of the dead cattle is being directed on how to get remaining cows that appeared sickly back in better shape, Herrell said.

When explorer Juan Ponce de Leon landed in Flor ida in 1521, he had a crew of adventurers and seven Andalusian cattle. It was these animals that started the American cattle industry and created what became the Texas Longhorns.Before Texas became famous for cows, Florida was one of the leading beef producers. During the Civil War, Florida provided most of the Confederacy's beef and leather. After the war, the cattle industry expanded.Cows a century ago were very different. The size of donkeys, they produced miserable milk and beef.

Orlando's Mad Cow Theatre has increased the size of its board of directors - which once numbered just three - to include a dozen members. Announced as new members on Friday, June 13, were: • Jonathan Miller, director of the Olin Library at Rollins College in Winter Park • Amanda Perry, an attorney at the Orlando law firm Baker Donelson • Jean Siegfried, a retired Winter Park business owner and a community activist • Timothy...

Aradhana Tiwari will serve as resident director of Mad Cow Theatre, beginning with the 2014 - 2015 season, the theater announced Tuesday. Tiwari is a Central Florida-based artist who has guest-directed at Mad Cow since 2012. Her production of "The Road to Mecca" in 2012 was the first in Mad Cow's Zehngebot-Stonerock Theatre, the black-box venue at Mad Cow's Church Street location. As resident director, she will teach classes and workshops and will help select the plays the theater presents, along with executive director Mitzi Maxwell.

FIRST IT was a soccer ball atop City Hall. Next, World Cup soccer may bring COWs downtown. Cellular One, the wireless telephone company, is considering hauling COWs - cellsites on wheels - to downtown Orlando to handle what may be an avalanche of news-media cellular calls. The idea is still under study by McCaw Communications of Florida Inc., the official name of Cellular One. If the company does bring in COWs, they'll be pointed to the Citrus Bowl and news-media work areas.